Froth Slosh B'Gosh

FESTIVUS!

We adhere to the Pastafarian rites on this day.

Article VI, Clause 3

I can think of many reasons why an elector would not cast a vote for Trump, but this person's reasoning, while heartfelt, is also plainly unconstitutional.

"I do not see how Donald Trump is biblically qualified to serve in the office of the presidency," he said in his Saturday post. "Of the hundreds of angry messages that I have received, not one has made a convincing case from Scripture otherwise. If Trump is not qualified and my role, both morally and historically, as an elected official is to vote my conscience, then I cannot and will not vote for Donald Trump for president."

Article VI, clause 3 of the Constitution plainly states "no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States."

By bringing biblical qualifications into his reasoning, Art Sisneros is clearly applying a religious test.  While he states he will resign rather than cast a vote for Trump, I wonder how long has he been an elector, and how many times he's applied a religious test for office in violation of the Constitution?

Resign

If your religious beliefs prevent you from doing your job, well then, its time to find a different line of work.

A county clerk has again refused to issue marriage licenses to gay couples, invoking her religious beliefs and “God’s authority” — this time in defiance of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling against her.

This morning, Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis’ office denied the licenses to at least two couples. At first, Ms. Davis remained in her office with the door closed and blinds drawn. But she emerged a few minutes later, telling the couples and the activists gathered there that her office is continuing to deny the licenses “under God’s authority.”

Ummm..you're a public servent.  We're not a theocracy.  Part of your job, Ms Davis, is the issuence of marriage licenses.  If you are incpable of doing that, then by definition, you are incompetent.

I Found Jesus!

He was eating pizza at Slide the City in South Park.  I think it was anchovy.  Fits with the loaves and fishes narrative.  

Well, This Is MY Plan!

The Supreme Court ruled that its OK to start official government public meetings with a prayer.  Perhaps I'll go to my next borough council meeting, and to properly sanctify the solemness of the work that goes on there, I'll sacrifice a goat to Ba'al, and anoint the forehead of each elected official with blood.

That right there is what the majority of justices either do not understand, or choose to ignore.  Because Christianity is the belief of most people in this country, they're blind to their own privilege.  After all, they find no objection to Christian prayer, so why should anyone else?  They'll sing a different tune as soon as a Wiccan, or a Muslim, or Hindu invokes a prayer at a council meeting, though I'm pretty sure they'll accept a Jewish prayer (for now), as they know that Jews are just imperfect Christians anyway.  

 

Child Abuse

These two asshats let TWO children die because of their religious beliefs.  My only question is why weren't the other children removed from the house after they let the first one die from a serious, but treatable disease?

 

No Satanic Display In Florida

Here comes the lawsuit?

 A Satanic display will not be joining a Festivus pole made from beer cans, an office desk chair representing the Flying Spaghetti Monster, and a nativity scene at the Florida State Capitol building.

The Florida Department of Management Services on Wednesday rejected an application to give floor space at the Capitol building to the New York-based Satanic Temple.

“The department’s position is that your proposed display is grossly offensive during the holiday season,” DMS Administrative Assistant Sherrie K. Routt told the group...

The 5-foot-by-5-foot poster the Satanists hoped to display showed an angel falling into hell along with a message reading, “Happy holidays from the Satanic Temple.”

This is a perfect example of why the government shouldn't allow any sort of religious displays on public property, because once you open that space to one point of view, you open it to all points of view, be they "joke" religions like Pastafarianism, holidays like Festivus, or beliefs like Satanism. 

If for example, a government body allowed a Wiccan group to erect a display on public property for Beltane, then they couldn't stop a Christian, or any other group from also putting up a display.  I can't think of anything that's more of a "counterpoint" to a Nativity scene than a display from a Satanist group.

If they choose to sue, I'm pretty sure they'd win.

Dreaming Of A White Santa

The stupid, it hurts.

Fox News host Megyn Kelly on Wednesday assured children viewing her program that both Jesus Christ and Santa Claus were white men even though some liberals were trying to make them black.

Fox, reporting what's really important!  I'll add that Santa, at least in his current configuration is a totally fictional character.  I'll also add that there is scant evidence for a historical Jesus as well, and even if such a person did exist, it is unlikely he looked like a European.

Right Here In Pennsyltucky

Faith-healing couple manage to kill ANOTHER child by neglect.

Via Friendly Atheist.

Stunning Stupidity

What is it with these Republican legislators who have no understanding of the Constitution??  From Think Progress:

Several conservative lawmakers in Tennessee are throwing the brakes on a fast-moving bill that would divert money away from public schools and towards vouchers for students to attend private or parochial schools. Republicans are taking a second look at the bill after the possibility arose that some Islamic schools could apply for the same funding made available to other religious schools.

The bill is a top priority for Republican Governor Bill Haslam, but several anti-religion lawmakers in the state senate, led by Sen. Bill Ketron who sponsored several anti-Islam bills in the last few years, are hoping to strip away the ability for any school that caters to Muslim children and their families to receive public dollars.

Of course, the raises the question of why any private school should receive public funding, but I'm amazed that any elected official can conceive that its OK to discriminate on the basis of religion.  Charter schools have a somewhat spotty track record in any case.  Sen. Ketron sounds like quite the bigot, for what its worth.

Ketron has cultivated a reputation as the state’s chief Islamophobe, proposing a bill in 2011 that could have introduced punishments of up to 15 years in jail for any Muslim who observed the holy month of Ramadan or prayed five times a day towards Mecca, a religious requirement for observant Muslims.

This guy doesn't belong in the state senate, he belongs in a circus sideshow for people to point at and laugh.  You can argue that Tennesee's legislature is already a circus sideshow, but as elected officials, their clownishness has the ability to really hurt people.